Brighton & Hove Albion 0-2 West Ham United
Barclays Women’s Super League, Broadfield Stadium, Sunday 8 October, 12pm BST.
West Ham United women’s team picked up their first points of the season in a battling 2-0 victory over Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday afternoon at Broadfield Stadium.
Kirsty Smith scored her first goal for the Club on 12 minutes, after Riko Ueki’s strike had been tipped onto the post by Brighton’s Sophie Baggaley.
After half-time, Riko Ueki added a second, her first for the Club since joining from Tokyo Beleza in the summer – nodding a flighted free-kick from Lisa Evans home on 52 minutes.
The Irons saw the game out, picking up a first win under Rehanne Skinner in an impressive performance.
Skinner made one change to the side from the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City in the league opener last weekend, with Anouk Denton coming into the side for Mel Filis, who dropped to the bench.
In their first away fixture of the season, the Irons started well on a warm afternoon in West Sussex, creating a chance within the opening minute of the game.
Anouk Denton combined well with Lisa Evans, and the Scotland international delivered a dangerous ball that her fellow compatriot, Smith managed to get on the end of – her shot flew narrowly over the bar.
In was a competitive opening 10 minutes as the Hammers looked to keep the ball and search out chances, whilst Brighton were looking to win it back and break quickly.
The breakthrough was found on 12 minutes. Ueki found space to get a shot away, with her effort being superbly tipped onto the post by Brighton goalkeeper Baggaley, but the ball bounced back into the path of Smith, who managed to squeeze her effort over the line to give the away side a lead that their early play deserved.
Brighton looked for a way back into the game, and Mackenzie Arnold had to claw out a strike from Elisabeth Terland, which looked to be destined for the top corner.
However, the Irons still carried a threat forward as they looked to double their advantage. A floated free-kick into the area eventually found the head of Shannon Cooke, but her effort trickled narrowly wide.
The game was certainly end-to-end as it reached the 30-minute mark, with Hawa Cissoko and Risa Shimizu both putting in brave blocks to stop strikes from Geum-min Lee from having a strike on target.
Just before the break, Brighton worked successive balls into the area, with a flick on from Terland just falling beyond the reach of a stretching Pauline Bremer. Then, the German forced a fantastic save from Arnold after being left free on the right, with Terland looping a ball over from the rebound.
In truth, Brighton boss Melissa Phillips must have wondered how they didn’t level the scoring before the break, as Terland again went close, firing wide after being put under pressure from the West Ham defence.
The second half began with the Hammers winning a free-kick after a crunching foul on Evans. The winger picked herself up and delivered a sumptuous ball into the box that Ueki attacked, nodding beyond Baggeley to extend the lead and score her first goal in Claret & Blue.
Skinner’s side were in the mood, and Denton would have made it three had it not been for Baggaley, who tipped the wing-back’s shot over the crossbar moments later.
Goalscorer Smith was forced to withdraw on 68 minutes after picking up what looked to be an injury to her arm.
And whilst the pace of the game dropped as the Irons looked to preserve what they had, they remained in a tight shape and limiting the home side to very little as the clocked ticked down.
Brighton substitute Madison Hayley was denied by Arnold from an acute angle as the scoreboard ticked into the final ten minute, with the Hammers captain then doing brilliantly to claim the resulting corner.
And the Irons withstood the pressure in the ten minutes of additional time that were added at the end of the second half to pick up their first three points of the 2023/24 season, keeping a clean sheet in an impressive performance.
Brighton & Hove Albion: Baggaley, Thorisdottir, Pattinson (Rule 57), Bergsvand, Losada © (Symonds 66), Bremer (Pinto 66), Lee (Hayley 57), Zigiotti, Terland, Kullberg (Sarri 81), Robinson.
Unused Subs: Evrard, Startup, Carabali, Hawkesby.
Booked: Thorisdottir 24
West Ham United: Arnold ©, Smith (Harries 68), Cissoko, Cooke, Shimizu, Denton (Atkinson 78), Hayashi, Stringer (Filis 78), Evans, Ueki (Ademiluyi 78), Asseyi.
Unused Subs: M.Walsh, Flannery.
Goals: Smith 12, Ueki 52
Booked: Ueki 24, Asseyi 38, Evans 75, Atkinson 90, Shimizu 91
Referee: Amy Fearn
Attendance: 1936
Next up, the women's team will face Charlton Athletic in the Continental Tyres League Cup! Purchase your tickets by clicking on the graphic below!
